Hungary and Slovakia block package of sanctions against Russia

This was announced on Monday, 23 June, by Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó at a press briefing, according to Ukrinform, citing Reuters.

According to Szijjártó, Hungary and Slovakia have decided to block a package of sanctions in response to the European Union's plans to gradually phase out imports of russian energy resources.

‘We did this because the European Union wants to ban member states, including Hungary and Slovakia, from buying cheap russian natural gas and cheap russian oil, as we did before,’ Szijjártó explained.

On 10 June, the European Commission proposed a new round of sanctions against russia, targeting Moscow's energy revenues, its banking system and its military industry.

In response, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that Slovakia would not support the sanctions package unless the European Commission offered Bratislava a solution to the situation in which Slovakia would find itself if the bloc gradually abandoned imports of russian energy.

The sanctions proposals require unanimity within the bloc for approval.

Late on Sunday, 22 June, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called on the EU to remove the proposed ban on russian energy supplies from the agenda due to the expected rise in energy prices following the US bombing of Iran.

Source: Ukrinform, Reuters